Vulcan
Description: Surak, founder of modern Vulcan civilisation Description: First contact with humans in 2063 Humanoid civilization responsible in a large part for the founding of the United Federation of Planets. The Vulcans originate from the planet Vulcan in the 40 Eridani A system. The climate is generally harsh, with much of the surface consisting of large deserts or mountain ranges. Vulcan has a considerably higher gravity and thinner atmosphere than Earth. History and Politics Culturally one of the most fascinating species in the Alpha Quadrant, the Vulcans were once an extremely violent and emotive people who waged almost constant warfare on one another. They believed in gods, such as war, peace and death. As their level of technology improved, the Vulcans eventually reached a point where their violent nature threatened species extinction. In an effort to avoid this fate, a Vulcan named Surak developed a new philosophy; Surak maintained that the root cause of all the problems on Vulcan lay in the uncontrolled outpouring of the peoples emotions. His followers swore to live their lives by an ethical system devised by Surak and based purely on logical principles. All expression of emotions, negative or positive, was completely forbidden. Although this new philosophy spread rapidly across Vulcan, a minority rejected Surak's ideals. They left Vulcan and founded colonies elsewhere - most notably on the planet Romulus, where they founded what eventually became the Romulan Star Empire. One of the first of the current powers to discover warp drive, the Vulcans conducted a series of survey missions in the mid 2000's. First Contact between Vulcans and Humans came in 2063 when a Vulcan survey ship detected the warp flight of Zephram Cochrane. The Vulcans met with Cochrane at his launch site on the day following the flight, and a strong relationship was quickly built up between the two species. In contrast, the Vulcans have a long history of border skirmishes with the neighboring Andorians. The Humans helped negotiate a peace between the two. The Vulcans had both contact with Cardassia and Trill already in late 21st century or early 22nd century and later an unspecified Vulcan ship is the first to make formal contact with a Gamma Quadrant civilization, the Wadi. Today Vulcan remains one of the principal Federation members, and is deeply involved in all levels of that society. Despite the enmity between the Federation and the Romulan Empire, Vulcans have been attempting to forge a more cordial relationship with their cousins - ultimately hoping to reunify the two cultures. So far these efforts have met with little success. The Vulcan ministry of security is known as the V'Shar. At least one Vulcan has served as Starfleet Academy superintendent, one who memorized every cadet's personal file, during all or part of Commander William T Riker's years in 2353-2357. Physiology While externally similar to Humans, with exeptions as the Vulcans notably pointy ears and eyebrows, Vulcan anatomy differs radically - for instance, their heart is where a Human's liver would normally be, and beats several hundred times per minute, whilie their blood copper-based and distinctly green in colour. Vulcans have very sensitive ears, and their eyes have an inner eyelid which has evolved as a defence against the harsh Vulcan sun. Vulcans also have superior metabolism to humans. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the Vulcan physiology is the brain. The Vulcan brain is in direct control of most of the bodily functions, acting as a control unit for many organs. Vulcans have learned to gain concious control of many of these functions, allowing them to regulate their bodies to a high degree by simple willpower. When injured a Vulcan can go into a trance-like state, using this ability to concentrate all of his or her energy onto repairing the injury. Of course the most famous aspect of the Vulcan brain is the inherent telepathic ability. Many Vulcans are natural touch-telepaths, though considerable training is required to utilise this ability fully. {Stronger minds are capable of non-contact telepathy, usually over short distances and in a limited fashion; occasionally Vulcans have emerged whose telepathic abilities are far stronger than the norm. The rigorous mental training all Vulcans are given often allows such individuals to develop such abilities as emotional compulsion and psychic image projection. Disregarding the Vantika incident, Vulcans are the only race who have ever performed a synaptic pattern displacement, or the transfer of one individual's consciousness into another: in the Vulcan's case, the transfer of the Katra (Vulcan for soul) according to Doctor Julian Bashir. Culture and Tradition Vulcans were brewing wines at least 300 years ago circa 2070 — or since before the United Federation of Planets was founded. Science and Technology * List of Vulcan starships (Pre-Federation) * List of Vulcan starship classes (Pre-Federation) People *Lojal *Saavik *Sakonna *Sarek *Satok *Skoon *Solkar *Soval *Spock *Stonn *Surak *Sybok *Tallera *T'Lar *Tolaris *T'Pau *T'Pol *T'Pring *V'lar Appearences *TOS: "Amok Time" *TOS: "The Savage Curtain" *TNG: "Sarek" *TNG: "Gambit" *DS9: "The Maquis" *DS9: "The Forsaken" *ENT: "Fusion" *ENT: "Fallen Hero" *Star Trek III: The Search for Spock *Star Trek V: The Final Frontier *Star Trek: First Contact